Odds and Ends - Refresh Edition

Finally got Melee back in the house after an ill-concieved lending on Lego's part. Had a few stand out rounds with Doc. Typical... Doc's the only one of my mains not returning for Brawl. Other than that I'm pretty happy with the final roster. (Really, though, Falco, but no Dr. Mario? Are you serious?)

Some nice TF2 last night. Defending the third Dustbowl stage, I registered 43 kills and 9 deaths. (Assist, destruction, and defense totals escape me.) Lego is totally right, though; Skill levels skyrocket after midnight.

Speaking of which, can anybody recommend a good PS3 mic? My Samsung WEP200 is not really meant for this purpose.

Obligatory T5DR notes: I keep seeing high rank Drag ghosts using a punch parry that I don't know. I've heard rumblings in the forums about this hidden move. I really need to look into it. Those same ghosts just love Pinpoint Fracture (qcf+4). (Why don't I?) Thirdly, for some reason, I'll use the Choke and Roll (f,f+2) nigh constantly when I'm screwing around with Hwoarang, but I never use Sergei's (f,f+1+2). (Blizzard Rush, or whatever it's called.) I've got a lot of work to do before T6.

Sidenote: When the fuck is T6 coming out? I've always heard Namco likes to keep SC and Tekken releases as far apart as possible. With SC4 slated for June, formulaically, T6 should drop now, or early Q4.

In other news, Final Fantasy XII By Committee is closing in on the last Esper, the notorious Zodiark. Deep within the lair of the uber-bats, also known as the Henne Mines, we battled our way to the thirteenth summon, only to be rebuffed. (Game over.) Down, but not out, we took a breather to fell the Shadowseer at Ridorana after FAQ'ing the arbitrary black orb puzzle. We then commenced Henne Bat Genocide '08 to bring the stragglers up to Level 60 and recessed for the week. Hopefully some research should yield success next time. Next on the agenda is the loot-swapping Biggoron's Sword Tournesol process and the last few Elite Marks. I'm not sure if we've settled on taming all the Rare Games are not, but we are nearing the end of XII. Just in time for XIII!